


winter wind

by lavendori



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 'frigid winter winds of northern japan' vibes, Gen, M/M, MAYHAPS SAKUSA DEVELOPING A CRUSH, Manga Spoilers, Minor Sakusa character study, sakusa discovering the melancholic winter side of hinata
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24171064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavendori/pseuds/lavendori
Summary: Hinata doesn’t move or flinch. Upon closer look, Kiyoomi notices a steely coldness in his eyes that he has never seen in him before. It’s as though a thin layer of ice has clouded over his usual bright gaze. A hard resolve sharpened by overexposure to frost.Perhaps he isn’t such a stranger after all.
Relationships: (can be gen or romo), Hinata Shouyou & Sakusa Kiyoomi, Hinata Shouyou/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Comments: 27
Kudos: 523





	winter wind

**Author's Note:**

> ever since lucio said hinata had a "frigid winter winds from northern japan vibe" + hinata's "who will you be?" cover, i've been thinking about how sakusa might find interest in this harsh, steely, melancholic side of our favorite sunshine boy. so i ended up writing a little drabble because someone requested it, but i liked it so much i decided to bring it here on ao3! :D
> 
> hope you enjoy!~

On the first day of winter that year, Kiyoomi steps outside the gym after practice and encounters something odd.

He pauses, raises an eyebrow, and stares at the shock of bright orange before him.

There, between the clear doors of the vestibule, staring unblinkingly out at the rain, stands none other than Hinata Shouyou.

Kiyoomi squints. In all his time of knowing the guy, (which admittedly isn’t that long at all,) he has never once seen him so unmoving and still. This moment, this scene, this presence — it’s an anomaly.

Kiyoomi is no stranger to odd. He’s lived the whole spectrum of odd until the very word itself became synonymous with predictability. With all his particularities and insistence on personal habits, he has always been set apart from common people in his experience of the world. No matter how different from each other humans are by default, the general average doesn’t tend to stray as far towards erratic behavior as one might think.

Overall, Kiyoomi doesn’t like surprises. He accepts that the world is full of them. By expecting that there will always be the unexpected, he prevents surprises from surprising him.

Or at least, most of them.

Hinata Shouyou is, for all intents and purposes, a stranger. Given everything Kiyoomi’s ever heard and seen of him, he seems simple enough. Years of observing the world around him has taught him enough about the kind of person Hinata might be. Straightforward excitement, unassuming joy, a burst of energy— the guy fits cleanly into the category of happy-go-lucky, with a reckless edge.

In other words, the kind of people Kiyoomi prefers to avoid.

Presently, the anomaly before him pulls out his phone. After gazing at it for a few seconds, he stows it away in his pocket and stares back out at the rain. From behind, Kiyoomi can see he‘s wrapped in only a scarf and his MSBY jacket. No raincoat, no umbrella.

Kiyoomi doesn’t understand. The weather forecast predicted heavy floods starting from this afternoon to night. Although the temperature hasn’t dropped too low for comfort yet, the rain, at the very least, shouldn’t be a surprise.

Hinata is a stranger. Kiyoomi intends to keep it that way, but he also needs to leave the gym. With a resigned sigh, he pulls his mask over his face, walks through the first set of doors, and stops beside him.

Hinata doesn’t move or flinch. Upon closer look, Kiyoomi notices a steely coldness in his eyes that he has never seen in him before. It’s as though a thin layer of ice has clouded over his usual bright gaze. A hard resolve sharpened by overexposure to frost.

Perhaps he isn’t such a stranger after all.

With a purse of his lips, he initiates conversation.

“What are you doing?”

“Hm?” Hinata blinks and turns to look up at him. “Oh! Hi Omi-san!”

His face brightens at once but Kiyoomi detects a lack of its usual warmth. Much like how the sun rises in the winter, it warms the sky yet remains too distant to clear the chilly mist from the night before.

Kiyoomi narrows his eyes at him. “You‘re staring at the rain.”

“Ah, yeah,” Hinata smiles sheepishly. “Atsumu-san forgot his umbrella so I let him borrow mine before remembering I didn’t bring a raincoat. But he left already and I feel bad making him come all the way back so...”

Kiyoomi frowns. He can just imagine Atsumu complaining about how the rain might ruin his hair. Completely insufferable.

“So make him. He deserves it.”

Hinata laughs. “Nah, I don’t want to trouble him. It’s my fault, I should’ve brought a raincoat in the first place.”

Kiyoomi raises an eyebrow. Based on his previous knowledge of their newest member on the team, the data would suggest that Hinata is absolutely the type of guy who would leap at the idea of running out into the rain or, as people commonly call it, ‘dancing in the storm.’ Now however, recent evidence suggests otherwise.

“You usually take the train from the subway station down the block don’t you? It isn’t far.”

“Yeah but...” Hinata bites his lip. “I can’t risk it.”

Kiyoomi gives him a skeptical look. Earlier today, he had witnessed Hinata attempting a cross hit without a proper set up. Now, he’s unwilling to risk a five minute walk in the rain. Given his overall personality, it doesn’t quite seem to fit.

Kiyoomi has to ask. Not because he‘s interested — because he’s definitely not — but he has to understand, to reconcile the contrasting pieces. And because he knows a thing or two about risk.

“What are you scared of?”

Hinata looks back out at the rain. His gaze hardens; the light in his eyes shutter out. The harsh intensity that freezes over his features chills Kiyoomi to the bone.

Taking a deep breath, Hinata releases a long exhale and utters a single word:

“Losing.”

Kiyoomi glances at him out of the corner of his eye. He doesn’t have to ask to know he’s talking about volleyball.

Given everything he knows about Hinata and his high school career, it isn’t merely the act of losing that grips him. Both of them dropped out of nationals that one year after unfortunate circumstances happened to them. Even before that season, Kiyoomi has known too well the importance of staying healthy and avoiding germs. You can do everything in your power to prevent the worst but the unexpected can still happen.

Regardless of unpleasant surprises however, one can never stop being prepared. Even when disaster hits, to say you’ve done everything in your power to brace yourself for that moment is, in his not-so-humble opinion, an underrated skill.

Whatever it takes to stay as long as you can on the court.

With a sigh, Kiyoomi draws his umbrella and opens it.

“Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

Hinata turns to him, bewildered. “What?”

“You heard me the first time,” he scowls.

“You— you’ll walk me?” his eyebrows raise in disbelief. “You’re serious? You’re actually offering?”

Kiyoomi narrows his eyes. “I can take it back.”

A bright grin splits Hinata’s face. A momentary film of sunlight through the clouds.

“Nah, that’s okay!” he laughs. “I wanna go with you too!”

“Nobody said anything about wanting to do this,” Kiyoomi clarifies. “If you get sick, that’ll be a bother for our upcoming game.”

Hinata lets out an exasperated sigh. “You really need to meet my old teammate Tsukki. You two really can’t do anything nice without being snarky, can you?”

“I’m not being snarky,” he says, lifting the umbrella higher over both of their heads. “Now are you coming or not?”

“Yessir!” Hinata affirms, wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck. “You think the rain will stop by the time I get off the subway station?”

“Doubt it,” Kiyoomi replies. Pursing his lips, he adds, “I was going to walk you all the way home anyway.”

“Really?!” Hinata’s eyes widen with enthusiastic gratefulness. Kiyoomi has to look away. It’s too much joy to take in for such a simple favor.

“Yeah,” he mutters as he steps out the second set of doors with Hinata huddling close beneath his umbrella beside him. “You don’t live too far from me anyway.”

“Really? How do you know?”

Kiyoomi stares determinedly ahead. “I make it my business to know everything around me.”

To know about the things around him is a function of mitigating risk. When Hinata joined the Black Jackals, he entered into Kiyoomi’s life whether anyone likes it or not. As much of a stranger Hinata is, he cannot remain completely unknown. The steely cold gaze, ice frosting over his amber eyes — these factors suggest that there’s more to this little wing spiker that Kiyoomi has yet to learn.

“Are you cold?” he asks once they make it onto the main street, the rain pouring harder over them from the open skies above.

“Nope!” Hinata beams, huddling closer to his arm. “Not anymore.”

Breath fogging up behind his face mask, Kiyoomi smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, you can find me at [twitter](https://twitter.com/lavendori) and/or [tumblr](https://lavendori.tumblr.com)!


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